by Jason Cheek
“Because, the mission is a one-way trip.” I stated in no uncertain terms.
While it was in my best interest to have someone trying to steal the scroll away from my ex when everything went down, I wasn’t going to blindly lead these people into throwing their lives away like a slippery dick or act like they weren’t going to die. This had to be something they volunteered to do of their own accord. With that in mind, I continued, before the councilor could deny my claims.
“I’d love to have someone on hand to either stop Cristiane from using that scroll or capturing it if at all possible. By the dark, I’ll even go so far as to say we need someone on hand to push her to use the scroll against us. Unfortunately, the reality of the situation is, those brave souls will not be returning from the mission. It is a death sentence, plain and simple.” I overrode their denials.
“Either they accomplish getting possession of the scroll and manage to throw it down to one of us, before they’re slaughtered like rats in a trap by the rest of Chaos Storm.” I ticked off holding up a finger. “Or, they don’t get to her in time and Cristiane manages to cast the scroll on the city.” I finished holding out a second finger to emphasis the point. “Like I said, the mission is a death sentence.”
I felt Helgath and Neysa shift nervously beside me at the thought of me being at ground zero of the attack. Even Fylreh stopped her touching game to look at me in concern as her hand silently gripped my shoulder. It was joined a second later by the Half-Orc on my other side gripping my upper arm. Murmuring to them both that everything would be fine and to trust me, I was pulled back into the argument by Councilor Alfonce.
“If it’s so dangerous, then why are you willing to take the mission?”
“Because I’m a newfar. I will return one way or another.” I stated in no uncertain terms. “Besides that, I have a few tricks I can use to hopefully help me survive.”
“If this mission is so dangerous, why not have newfar only do this?” Councilor Alfonce snapped dismissively. I swear the guy was getting on my last nerve, but before I could speak up, AJ answered for me.
“Because they’ll be able to see the class and level of anyone in the group.” AJ said, as he looked at the rest of us. “Also, it’s possible that she might recognize us for who we are.” Seeing the concerned looks coming from the people of The World at his comment, I hurriedly explained.
“Newfar have means to see what other newfar are up to from our world. It’s a type of farseeing magic.”
“So even if you’ve never met in our world, she would know the face of her enemy.” Councilor Walt reasoned thoughtfully.
“Exactly,” I said, giving an apologetic bow from where I sat.
“Then, I ask that we be excused to discuss this last part of the plan.” Councilor Walt said in a heavy voice. “Any chance to save the city and our fortress of light is too much to pass on.” With that, the four councilors moved off to discuss the issue. As they sat down at a table on the far side of the pub, I turned back to my friends.
“So, I was thinking.” I started out as AJ chucked and cut me off.
“Now, that’s a first.” AJ said as Hefe high-fived him.
“Fuck you both,” I said, flipping them off as the girls rolled their eyes at us. Holding up my hands, to get everyone’s attention, I continued in a more serious vein.
“So, last night I was lying in bed thinking over the whole Julie situation, when it hit me. How did she know where to find Domenic’s starting area?”
“Could she have gotten that from his stream?” Jill asked, trying to think how that might have happened.
“Not really, the maps don’t show up when you’re watching the streams.” Krystal said, disagreeing.
“Even if she’d been focusing on taking out the entire Isolde Line, there’s no way she could have done it this quickly in the game.” AJ mused, thinking over the question.
“It’s almost like someone told here approximately where he was located.” Bonnie Smash mused out loud.
“That’s what I thought!” I said excitedly, happy to see I wasn’t the only one who saw the possibility. “Initially, I was worried that it was just me being paranoid, but the more I thought about it last night, the more my mind kept coming back to the same conclusion.”
“Okay, I see what you’re saying and you’re right, it doesn’t make any sense.” Jill said crossing her arms in a huff. “But, who out of our group would be stupid enough to tell her anything about your guys’ starting areas?” Everyone was silent for a long moment considering the issue, when Jill and Krystal suddenly looked over at Hefe who was being unusually quiet.
“You stupid fucking moron!” Jill sneered, her voice filled with disgust as the rest of us looked over at Hefe questioningly.
“Did she let you fuck her or something?” Krystal asked, as she shook her head disappointedly at the little Gnome.
“I didn’t have sex with her!” Hefe shouted defensively. “It’s not like that, we’re just friends.”
“Really? You’re just friends?” AJ roared as he jumped off the bench and snatched Hefe up by the neck choking him. “Dammit Jeff, what did you tell her you fucking dipshit?”
My vassals surged to their feet going for their weapons, as I hurriedly stood up and waved them down. Assault Leader Dell, Randel, the Devil Dogs, and my companions were giving all of my in real-life friends ugly looks as Hefe’s arms waved around anxiously as he tried to defend himself. A sinking feeling hit my stomach as I realized just how much Hefe could have screwed us over. Bonnie Smash was anxiously looking between us trying to figure out what to do, when Hefe finally cried out.
“Alright … alright, I’ll tell you everything!” Hefe said, sagging in AJ’s grip. With an unhappy grunt, AJ slammed Jeff back into his chair and put his hands on his hips.
“Give it to us straight!” AJ warned. “Or, I swear, I’ll log out of this game and swing by your place!”
“Look, I know you guys don’t like Julie anymore,” Hefe said, holding out his little hands to calm everyone down. “But, I never stopped being friends with her after she broke up with, Jay.”
“Oh, Jeff,” Krystal said, speaking as if she were talking to a small child. “You know she’s just using you, right?” Her words seemed to bother him as he turned away from everyone, unable to meet the accusing glares.
“I swear she didn’t act like that at first.” Jeff said unhappily, as if he were drudging up an ugly memory. He kicked his foot at an imaginary rock as he looked at me across the table out of the corner of his eyes. “Jay, her version of your break-up was completely different then what you told us.”
“And you believed her?” I asked in a cold voice.
“At first I did,” Jeff admitted. “I just figured there were two sides to the story. I didn’t want to say anything to piss you off, so I kept it to myself.”
“And?” Jill growled threateningly.
“She’d check in with me every once in a while,” Jeff said with a shrug, before hurriedly explaining, “but I swear, she never asked about you!”
“She contacted me shortly after we started The World,” Jeff drawled on. “She got me talking about our Nightmare starts. I told her about my wipe.” Jeff paused to warn me. “Look, it was an accident.”
“What did you say, Jeff.” I said tiredly. “Just spit it the fuck out already.”
“Look, I admit it, Jay. I was running my mouth.” Jeff said, sighing dramatically. “When I started talking about how the great Cristiane was having problems completing her Nightmare quest, I couldn’t help telling her about how you were rocking the Nightmare quest like you rock everything else.” He said, giving a self-depreciating laugh. “Before I knew it, I was telling her all about your Nightmare quests.“
“You told her exactly where all of our bases are, didn’t you?” I rhetorically asked, burying my face in my hands as I leaned on the top of the table and closed my eyes. “You royally fucked up, Jeff!”
“She promised me she wouldn’t
tell anybody and that this was just between friends.“ Jeff started saying for an excuse as AJ, Krystal, and Jill hammered on him relentlessly. As I listened to his whining, it suddenly made so much sense. How the enemy knew where to find Domenic’s area. The threats from the PKers saying my days were numbered and they were coming after me. The Dread Pack waiting for us in Darom. I’d only managed to win using tactics and strategies that were outside the box.
Not to mention, if not for the Devil Dogs and my new guildmates, I would have never been able to finish my Nightmare start, taken out the pirates, turned the Sea Elves into vassals, or saved all of those prisoners during the World Dungeon run. Without those forces, I would have been slaughtered and spawn camped by the Dread Pack as soon as I landed in Darom. After taking me out, Julie would’ve wiped Domenic out and then gone after Mike. It would have been the perfect revenge. I let their berating of Hefe go on for a few more minutes, before speaking up.
“Jeff, you do realize that you fucked Domenic, right?” He flinched at my words and went to argue, but I cut him off. “The majority of the Chaos Storm alliance let their fortresses to die on purpose to destroy the Isolde Line. Then, they went after Domenic. Probably to sucker me into coming to his rescue, which was why the Dread Pack were waiting for me in Darom. Hell, they probably planned to take out my lands while I was held up in Darom being spawned camped. All because you couldn’t keep your big mouth shut.”
“Fuck dude, she worked you like a tool and you let her.” Hefe hung his head at my words. “In one way, I don’t blame you.” I continued as Jill and Krystal gave me an incredulous look. “She tricked the rest of us too and then fucked us over.”
“She really did,” AJ agreed as both women’s mouths’ snapped shut. They knew as well as I did that it was true.
“The only difference between us and you was that we didn’t sell out our friends.” I finished as Hefe hunched over the table holding his head in misery. “So, tell us Jeff. Can we trust you to nix her lying ass or do we turn you lose?”
“What you mean, turn me loose?” Hefe asked wide-eyed.
“Excommunicado,” I said, putting it into John Wick terms. “That means, no LAN parties, no Requiem,” getting nods from my in real-life friends, I continued. “You’re out.”
“That’s bullshit, Jay.” Hefe angrily said, glaring at me from across the table.
“Not it’s not!” AJ roared, smacking Hefe upside the back of the head. “Some of us live off this money. We don’t have rich parents who pay for everything we want, this is our livelihoods you’re fucking around with you nitwit.”
“Besides that, you don’t sell out your friends, Jeff.” Jill angrily said, adding in her two cents.
Bonnie Smash was unusually quiet as she watched her boyfriend struggle through being used by someone he thought was a friend. Besides, the whole emotional fallout once he got caught running his mouth. Personally, I knew Hefe hated being called out on his shit, or, for that matter, being told what to do, which made this all that much worse for him. Nor was he particularly good at taking responsibility for his actions, which had been my major problem with him over the last several years.
“Alright, I’ll do it.” Hefe said, letting out a heavy sigh. “Look, I know I fucked up. I won’t let that happen again.”
“Whenever you do some boneheaded shit, all you think you have to do is say “sorry” and everything will be automatically forgiven!” Jill roared in anger. “But you went too far this time. How can any of us trust you again, dickhead?”
“I just said I was sorry,” Hefe groused back defensively as he looked around the table for support. Realizing that none was coming, he hung his head. “Listen, guys, I never understood just how screwed up she was. I always thought it was just a break-up thing, yeah know? Now I know what all of you were saying was true. I promise, I won’t do that again.“
“Yeah, whatever, Jeff.” I grumbled unhappily as AJ, Jill, and Krystal made their own negative comments to him. “It’s a little too late for that now.”
“What does that mean?” Hefe asked in a distraught voice.
“It means we need to talk this over and figure out what we’re going to do with you.” Krystal replied unhappily.
“I need a night to sleep on this before I decide anything,” I added, running a nervous hand through my hair as everyone nodded in agreement. Dealing with this kind of emotional shit always took a lot out of me. That was the last thing I needed right now.
“So,” Hefe said, dragging out the “o” sound. “Can we not tell Domenic or Mike about this and just keep it between us?”
The explosion from the rest of us dissuaded him asking again. That didn’t stop him from whining about Domenic or Mike possibly kicking his ass. Nothing dissuaded the rest of us. Part of taking responsibility for your actions was taking the licks that came with fucking up. Not that I thought Domenic or Mike might actually beat his ass. Although, I honestly wasn’t sure how I felt about him right now. That he betrayed everyone to my ex almost pushed me over the edge. It was better to finish the day out and sleep on it before making any permanent decisions while I was still emotional.
Everyone was subdued after that. Even so, Hefe went around the table looking like a lost puppy to grip our hands and give us hugs. What can I say, that’s more of a Florida thing than a Northern thing. Although, it felt more like patting a dog on the back while they were humping your leg, then getting an actual hug. Not that I could say anything about that out loud without sounding like a complete asshole.
It was so tempting to give him shit about his size. Mainly because he was also so proud about being a big guy. Even being mad at him, I couldn’t help laughing at him on the inside as he stomped back to his seat. As he went to sit down, Bonnie Smash noticeably gave him the cold shoulder. His antics with Julie had obviously caused some hard feelings between the two of them.
Honestly, it’s not like I was super surprised. Hefe wasn’t exactly the sharpest tool in the shed. It wasn’t that he was stupid, he just didn’t bother to take the time to think most things through. Besides, I knew how Julie worked. His naivety never stood a chance against her duplicity. Although, if I did decide to give him a second chance, I’d have to be even more careful with anything I shared with him from here on out.
Having Julie know where all of our fortresses were, while we had no clue where her own starting area was located was a huge coup. At the same time, you didn’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out where she was probably located. While I hated to assume, she was most likely somewhere on or very near the Isolde Line, since everyone else’s nightmare start seemed to have started there on this side of the map. Even though that helped to pinpoint her general location, the line encompassed a massive swath of land, so finding her wasn’t going to be easy. Still, it made sense and was probably how she came in contact with the Orcs, which was the basis for her plan on taking over the Kingdom of Kader. Too bad she didn’t realize that the people and monsters of The World weren’t just simple code.
My attention was pulled away as several of my friends and vassals mouthed that they wanted to talk to me later in private, which I silently agreed to. I’m sure more than one of my friends and companions were as shocked about Hefe as they were to find out that the Chaos Storm guild leader was my ex. At least, the ex-thing I could explain and get that out in the open which I immediately did. Quickly, I outlined the basics of what happened and the information that I’d found out about last night during our talk with the Prince, which was when I’d discovered that my ex-girlfriend was leading the opposition.
Everyone has a crazy ex or two in their closet, so the explanation went far to getting everyone settled down. Kenzie made a few smart-ass comments at my expense, which I took with grace. I figured the only thing I’d have to talk over now was the whole about Hefe. Not that it should be a problem. I’d tell them to do the same thing that I was going to do. Not pass along anything sensitive to him. At least, not until he proved himself trustworthy agai
n, a feat that would only come with lots and lots of time.
We were just getting settled down once again to discuss everyone’s parts in the coming battle, when the Councilors of Light made their way over to our table. One look at Councilor Walt and Silvarn’s faces said it all. I knew the gist of Councilor Alfonce’s words before he opened his mouth as Councilor Fulrin stood proudly with his head held high.
“We cannot stand idly by if there is a chance to save this city and recover the scroll of Meteor Strike.” Councilor Alfonce pronounced proudly. “Councilor Fulrin has agreed to represent the Council of Light to the Chaos Storm alliance with ten of our best Battle Priests. If there is any chance to recover the relic, I know that Councilor Fulrin will find a way.”
Standing up, I shook Councilor Fulrin’s hand as I leaned forward and whispered into his ear. “Can we talk privately before you head out, Councilor Fulrin?”
“Of course, Lord Ironwolf. I have an hour before I must prepare my people and leave.” The older man replied easily.
“Thanks, just give me a minute to get everyone moving.” I answered, clapping the man on the shoulder as we both ignored the councilors’ inquiring looks. Turning back to the table, I clapped my hands once to get everyone’s attention.
“Listen up people! It’s just about nine. That means we have two hours to get everyone moving.” I caught my friends’ and companions’ eyes. “Make sure you’re far enough away from ground zero to not get caught in the blast.” My eyes sought out Assault Leader Dell’s. “I want to get the pledge of fealty completed within the next half an hour so we have time to raise up the zombies, get them dressed, and get everyone moving out. Do you have the cloaks ready?”
“Yes, Lord Ironwolf.” Everyone should be gathering now to pledge their loyalty.” Assault Leader Dell responded smartly, giving me a salute.
“Excellent, then let’s head on out!” I shouted as everyone began moving.